Top 10 Democrats We Loved to Hate in 2010

“There’s nothing in this world so sweet as love. And next to love the sweetest thing is hate,” said American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He’s right. In that spirit, we’ve compiled a list of the top “10 Liberals We Loved to Hate in 2010.” These are people who do the most ridiculous things, say the most absurd stuff, and generally just get under our skin. But at the end of the day we still find ourselves hopelessly churning through the news to see what bizarre things these people would say or do next. And God bless them, they rarely let us down.

So here it is, the 10 Democrats We Loved to Hate in 2010:

10. Ben Nelson: For a few moments in 2010, we actually did love this guy. He, and his merry-band of Democratic misfits, seemed prepared to vote with Republicans and put an end to Obamacare in the Senate. The longtime abortion opponent argued that the bill’s language “to ban public funding of abortion is not sufficient.” And then he sold out. In exchange for a “yes” vote, Reid gave Nelson permanent and full federal aid for his state’s expanded Medicaid population. For proving that your morality has a price, we love to hate you Senator Nelson.

9. Paul Krugman: There is no doubt that he’s smart. Just read one of his columns and he’s sure to tell you that. But any iota of intelligence is covered up by his thick doses of smarm. Well, smarm, and a limited range of ideas. Pick up his column and I can almost guarantee you it covers one of the following topics: the stimulus was too small, debt is good, austerity is bad, don’t worry about inflation, Republicans don’t care about the deficit, or, my personal favorite – the stimulus was too small. Regardless, I still find myself drawn to his column just to hear him call Paul Ryan, one of the few politicians with ideas on the deficit, a “flimflam man” with ideas “drenched in flimflam sauce.” Where does he come up with this stuff! So, for going from Nobel to noxious in no time flat, we love to hate you Mr. Krugman.

8. Barbara Boxer: Barbara Boxer is an angry woman. I’m sorry, I should have said Senator Boxer. Wouldn’t want to face the same fate as Brigadier General Michael Walsh whom she chided for not calling her by her title. Interrupting the General during his testimony Boxer said, “Could you say ‘senator’ instead of ‘ma’am? It’s just a thing. I worked so hard to get that title. I’d appreciate it.” Well she sure isn’t working hard to earn our respect. Beyond her climate change crusade, her main accomplishment in the Senate has been perfecting her condescending, haughty, patronizing, and paternalistic style. And for that, we love to hate you madam Boxer.

7. Rachel Maddow: The queen of conspiracy theories. Once you sort through the inanity of her show, it really consists of three fundamental parts: (1) the part where she taps her pen on her desk to authoritatively prove her point, (2) the part where she conflates the opinion of one Republican onto the entire party to show just how kooky we really are, and (3) the part where she shows a clip of a Republican in office followed by her weird and repeated intonation of the phrase “you’re lying.” For having a schtick as predictable and boorish as Digger Phelps “tie-lighter”, we love to hate you Ms. Maddow.

6. Keith Olbermann: Another one we used to love! Granted it was back when he was a Sportcenter anchor rather than an MSNBC partisan hack. Now he just comes off as a more caustic, less entertaining version of John Stewart. In fact, Olbermann’s show has become such a parody of liberal hatred, that fellow left-winger Stewart skewered Olbermann at his Rally to Restore Sanity. To appear less divisive, Olbermann immediately suspended his “Worst Person in the World” gimmick because “its satire and whimsy have gradually gotten lost in some anger.” Don’t worry, we’re here to pick up where Keith left off. So for being the “Worst Person in the World,” you Mr. Olbermann are someone we love to hate.

5. Helen Thomas: She has covered the administrations of 10 presidents in a career spanning 60 years. She was the first female office of the National Press Club and the first female member and president of the White House Correspondent’s Association. But she promptly through that all away in the past year by making a variety of anti-Semitic comments. Saying that the Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine” and go back home to “Poland, Germany, and America and everywhere else” with a camera stuck in your face is a quick way to end a career. She then retired and apologized. But we hadn’t heard the last of Ms. Thomas. In December she apparently went back on her apology saying that “I paid a price, but it’s worth it to speak the truth.” And because we too must speak the truth, we proudly proclaim Helen Thomas someone we love to hate.

4. Joe Biden: He may only be Vice President of the United States, but he is without a doubt the President and Supreme Ruler of gaffes. This year was filled with them. From wrongly saying that the Irish Prime Minister’s mother had died (she alive and well) to whispering audibly to the President that signing the healthcare bill “was a big f**king deal,” Biden was always fun to be around. But our personal favorite gaffe-of-the-year was when Biden visited a frozen custard store in Wisconsin. When Biden asked what he owed the manager said, “Don’t worry, it’s on the house…Lower our taxes and we’ll call it even.” Never one to stay quiet for long Biden asked the manager, “Why don’t you say something nice instead of being a smartass all the time?” For making buying frozen custard a national incident, and keeping conservatives wildly entertained in the process, Joe Biden is a man we love to hate.

3. Harry Reid: Another gaffe-prone politician. This year’s biggie was the revelation that the Senate Majority Leader described Barack Obama as a “light skinned” African-American “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one. “ But what really made us love to hate him was his wonderful mismanagement of his enormous Senate majority. His failure to keep the Democratic coalition together in the healthcare debate, partly because of the special deal he gave his home state of Nevada, led many Democrats to decry his lack of leadership. Somehow he squeaked by this election cycle, meaning we get at least six more years of this Senator that we love to hate.

2. Alan Grayson: This loudmouthed liberal made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2010. From saying the Republican healthcare plan was for patients to “die quickly,” to calling a female Federal Reserve adviser a “K-Street whore,” to nicknaming his Republican opponent “Taliban Dan” after taking his words out of context, Grayson wasn’t known for holding back. I mean, you know you’re a crazy liberal when the best the left-leaning New York Times can say about you is: “Grayson has catapulted himself to national renown for outlandish rhetoric and a pugilistic political style that makes him seem less staid lawmaker than a character on the lam from one of his Orlando district’s theme parks.” The voter’s didn’t appreciate his crazy antics, voting him out of office after one term. I’d like to say that we’ll miss you Alan Grayson, but the truth is won’t, though we do still love to hate you.

1. Nancy Pelosi: Could it have been anyone else!?! Pelosi, even more than President Obama, became the face for everything that was wrong with the Democratic Party. She was out of touch, imperialistic, and what’s more, didn’t care one bit. It’s all perfectly summed up in her now famous line, “We have to pass the (health care) bill so you can find out what is in it.” But despite her party’s enormous losses the former Speaker of the House refused to go away quietly. Instead she announced that she would be returning as the House Minority Leader. More time in the spotlight for Nancy P-“ego”-si, the number one liberal we absolutely love to hate.

by Brandon Greife, Political Director of the College Republican National Committee